Seeds of the Future
by Bunnybell
Summary: When Tetra begins to lose faith in her mission to find a new Hyrule, Link tries to help... until he finds out her secret! Together, can they keep going? LxT Fluff! Post WW and PH
1. Chapter 1

This is a one-shot which grew too long, so it's getting split up. If you read this story, please keep reading until chapter 3! It was what this was going to be before it ballooned like crazy.

Zelda and everything awesomely related to it belongs to NINTENDO.

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It was amazing how little had gotten done in the two years since Ganondorf had been defeated. Looking out over another endless stretch of ocean, Tetra growled. She was sitting on the starboard keel of her ship and she hadn't moved in two hours. The rest of her crew recognized her hunched over posture and all chose wisely to stay as far away as they could. Annoyance often and quickly led to anger with Tetra, and nobody felt like getting thrown overboard today. This, of course, left nobody for Tetra to vent on and only made her more irritable.

_'Where's Link when you need him?'_

Link didn't recognize many of Tetra's mood swings yet, and the rest of the crew usually found it funnier to leave him in the dark. He was the only crewmember that would be stupid enough to approach her right now. Tetra wished he would come annoy her so she could let off some steam. It was HIS fault she was angry in the first place…

Tetra's thoughts quieted as the root of her problem shut out the other voices in her mind. She stared out at the sea. It seemed to go on forever.

_'Stupid… endless…'_

Tetra's vision blurred. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. This was something to be angry about, not sad about. Something to chop off Link's head for. Where WAS he, anyway? If that damnable boy was taking a nap in the crow's nest again, she would… she would beat him senseless with a mop and make him wash every floorboard of the ship with his tongue. That way he would bleed to death from tongue splinters, not from something as stupid as falling off of the crow's nest.

It had been almost three years since Tetra had met Link on Outset Island. Deciding it was a good way to get her mind off things, Tetra went over the math in her head. From start to finish, their adventure with Ganondorf and old Hyrule had taken about a year. After that, Link and Tetra both decided to take the King of Red Lion's last words to heart and began to explore the uncharted seas for a new land to call home. There was no point in rushing to leave Outset, though. By the time all the planning and preparations and supplies could be made ready it would have been late autumn, and it made no sense to start a long trip on an unknown sea in the winter months. They had therefore waited until early spring to set out.

Only a month after they'd left Outset, they had a second adventure involving mysterious fogs, skeleton pirates, and (from Link's account of the story) an hourglass. That had wasted a whole eight months. Eight! Tetra still regretted jumping onto that pirate's ship and getting her crew into that mess… They continued on afterwards like nothing happened, but they had wasted away the pleasant months and were left sailing in mid-December.

Tetra and her crew fought valiantly against the winter cold and storms, at least until a particularly bad storm in January nearly swallowed their ship whole. They had been forced to weight anchor for a week at the nearest island that had trees and wood for repair. During this week, both Niko and Link came down with a nasty cough. Niko bounced back quite quickly from his illness, but Link was not so lucky. He began to cough up large amounts of blood, and so the crew had been forced to stay put on the island for another two weeks until he was well enough to travel again.

Tetra frowned at that memory. That had been one of the scarier moments of her life. Nothing in the world quite compared to holding the hand of a friend you weren't sure was going to make it through the night…. Despite that, it hadn't been all bad. Tetra always volunteered to be the one to sit with Link during the worst days where he needed to be watched, and to keep themselves entertained they talked a lot. Link really couldn't talk for too long before the coughing stole his voice, but Tetra tried to keep his mind off things by talking for hours and hours about anything and everything. When Link got better, they continued to talk. And… well, it was only a matter of time before that led to things, right? They'd been in a "relationship" for… oh, about four months. It had been difficult at first, because living on such a small ship made it impossible to be alone together without everyone knowing, but—

"Give it back! That's mine! Mine mine miiiiiine!"

Nudge came pelting out from below deck and slammed the door shut behind him, using his body as a barricade. A string of cursing and banging ensued from the other side.

"You flea-bitten rat, you KNEW that last piece was mine!" Mako shouted through the wood.

"Only because you were hiding it from everyone else!" Nudge yelled back. Without further ado, he shoved the large piece of dried fruit cake he was clutching into his mouth. Happily chewing his prize, he let Mako out. Mako lunged straight at him, but being about half the height, his head merely bounced off Nudge's stomach.

"Y'shud r'lly learn t'share," Nudge mumbled through his cake-filled mouth.

"Same goes for you, gobblegut," said Mako. Noticing that Nudge had the entire cake eaten, Mako visibly deflated. He sat down on the deck with a sigh and looked skyward. "I wish we were back on Windfall. The inn there makes the best cherry pie. I haven't had cherries in ages."

Tetra hmphed from where she was watching. They had bought dried cherries to take with them specifically for Mako, and he'd been a glutton and eaten almost all of them before they even left.

"Yeah," Nudge agreed. "Too bad we can't find an island with a cherry tree. Or any tree with edible kinds of things. We haven't found anything out here yet… just water."

"And more water!" moaned Mako. "I really don't know what Tetra hopes to accomplish. All we've seen so far are tiny lifeless rocks. How can we build an entire kingdom with just ourselves and barren rocks?"

"I know. Don't tell Miss Tetra this, but… don't you think it would've been easier just to rebuild with what we had at home? There weren't many islands, but we could've done… I dunno, something."

"Maybe. It seems less futile than what we're doing now, anyway."

That was ENOUGH. Tetra stood up and growled loudly. Nudge and Mako froze. Tetra saved them the trouble of turning around by jumping down from where she was and marching in front of them.

"M-m-miss Tetra!" Nudge stuttered. "I-I didn't realize you were… were still out on the deck… I… we…."

Mako was scared beyond words and just gaped at Tetra with his mouth open.

Tetra grabbed Nudge by his shirt and pulled his face down right next to hers.

"Do you think," she began in a deadly soft whisper which quickly crescendoed , "that I want to be here ANYMORE THAN YOU?! We've found nothing and we're not GOING to find anything! Even if we do, you two just brought up an excellent point: It's impossible to build an entire kingdom with only eight people! We'll have to transport people from back home, and how will we do that? They won't leave their homes for some little girl who claims to be royalty from a bygone era! Most of them don't believe the legends anymore! I'm not even 17, I can't be their queen. I can't lead my people, I have no idea how to build them a kingdom, and I… I can't even find a rock big enough to build on. What kind… of hope am I for the future…?"

In an instant, Tetra felt her anger evaporate and get replaced by the fear that had been plaguing her for days. The crew had no idea of what she'd been hiding from them, no idea. She let go of Nudge and dropped her gaze to the floor.

"I can't do this, and I don't want to anymore."

There! She had admitted it to herself and to the crew. Nudge and Mako would tell the rest of the crew, they'd pull in their sails… and… Why… was the floor getting blurry? This was what she really wanted, right? What she'd been working up the courage to tell the crew, right? There was no hope of finding anything out on this sea... right? Tetra shut her eyes. They couldn't keep going… it was too late now. She had failed.

A small voice, reminiscent of her mother's, whispered "Coward".

"I'm not!" Tetra cried, covering her ears as though that could block out the voices in her head. She'd gone over this a million times. They had to turn around. It was too late!

"Miss?" Nudge ventured slowly.

Tetra glanced up. Nudge and Mako were both giving her funny looks. She didn't want to be here anymore.

"T-turn this ship around."

"What? Why?!" said Mako, snapping back into reality.

"BECAUSE I GIVE UP!!" she screamed. With that, she stormed off into the cabin, slamming the door hard behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

Ahah, so I apologize for the one-sentence-summary of Phantom Hourglass… I really have NO idea what that game is about (I've been trying to keep myself in the dark), and I just wanted to get the point across that this all is happening AFTER that game. I think they'll either find a new Hyrule or keep looking for one at the end, but I could be extremely wrong. Please be nice, this is the first thing I've had the courage to post. )

Link, Tetra, and those oh-so wily pirates belong to NINTENDO.

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It was a unanimous decision that Link be the one to go talk to Tetra. Link didn't much appreciate being woken up from his nap in the crow's nest, but he couldn't argue with the crew's judgment. Though Tetra was below deck, which made it almost impossible to throw someone overboard (keyword there being _almost_), Link was the crewmember who could survive an encounter with Tetra with the least amount of bodily damage and was thus voted to make the trek.

Link yawned and tried to concentrate on climbing down. It was a good thing Tetra was below deck, because if she saw Link climbing out of the crow's nest in her current mood… He shuddered at the thought. No matter how many times he told her that he was used to falling asleep on top of a lookout, she never listened. In fact…Things had been kind of strange lately. Tetra was finally beginning to get over the embarrassment of being seen as a "couple" by the rest of the crew, and Link more than welcomed the benefits of this. It felt nice to be able to give Tetra a hug whenever he wanted, not just when they caught a moment alone. Recently, though, Tetra was always at a hot or cold extreme. Sometimes she wanted to be held and would sit peacefully in Link's arms for hours, while other times she would avoid even eye contact. Something must be wrong, but he had no idea what it was. Everyone must have noticed her odd behavior by now, but asking her outright what was the matter would be like poking a sleeping dragon in the eye. Even Link wasn't stupid enough to do that.

…wait….

"What exactly am I doing again?"

Mako gave Link a flashy smile.

"You're gonna go find out why Miss Tetra stormed below deck."

This was code for "poke-the-fully-awake-and-fuming-mad-dragon".

"You ARE aware this is suicide, right?"

"Yup!" Mako grinned. "Now get going!" he said, giving Link a shove in the direction of the cabin door.

Link sighed. Maybe if he was lucky she had calmed down by now and was in cuddly-mood. He could deal with that. If not… well, that had a pretty simple solution too. Link hated to force Tetra into doing or sharing anything she didn't want to. One way or another, it always ended in pain. Unconsciously, Link ran his tongue over a chipped tooth that was the result of one such coercion. Tetra wasn't normally violent; it was just… sometimes her desire to be a strong leader got carried to extremes. She felt it was better to be strict than to show any sort of weakness. Link knew this from experience and because, well, Tetra told him this herself. When he'd been really ill a few months ago, Tetra told him a million things that nobody else onboard knew: She envied Link for his Triforce; courage was so much better than wisdom! She sometimes hated being the captain, because you had to appear in charge and unafraid at all times. Even when you did make all the decisions, you couldn't go anywhere you wanted because you had an entire crew and a large boat to think of. Really, she admitted, her mother had been a much better captain. Then she talked all about her mother…

Tetra had a lot of things she felt she needed to hide in order to be a good captain. She would let everything build up inside until it boiled over and caused chaos. When Link came onboard and gained Tetra's trust, Tetra gained an outlet for her frustrations. All Link had to do was sit next to her and listen. She would rant, rave, and ramble and slowly but surely the ticking time bomb that was her anger would diffuse. Tetra had far fewer outbursts now, and everyone was happier for it.

Link now found himself standing in front of Tetra's door. It was shut. Not a good sign. It had been quite a while since Tetra had done this. Thinking back, Link smiled. Her last major outburst had happened exactly five months ago, when she and Link decided to become a couple. All Link did that day was sit a little bit closer than usual so that his hip was touching hers. Tetra immediately noticed and went off on a rampage, listing every reason she could think of why a relationship wouldn't work. When she had tired herself out and sat back down, Link silently took her hand in his. There was a small pause, and then Tetra said, "Oh what the hell" and kissed him.

It was unlikely that today's episode would end that well, but there was nothing Link could do now but poke the dragon. It was worth a few bruises to find out if something was wrong. Tetra never understood that he sincerely worried about her sometimes…

Taking a deep breath and bracing himself for the worst, Link knocked. There was no answer. He knocked again and got the same result: nothing.

"Tetra."

Nothing.

"We both know your door has no lock. If you don't let me in, I'll come in anyway."

A feminine voice mumbled something indiscernible.

"What was that?"

"…I said go away," Tetra called out more loudly.

"Not gonna happen."

"Go away," she persisted.

"No."

"I've blocked the door with my dresser, you can't get in. Go away. I don't want to talk to you."

Link sighed.

"Come on, Tetra… You don't have to talk to me, I just want to see if you're okay. Just let me in so I can make sure you're still breathing and all that good stuff."

Silence.

"…please?" Link pleaded in a small voice. He was starting to worry; Tetra had never refused him something more than three times without resorting to yelling. As the silence stretched on longer and longer, he began to mentally list any item onboard that could be used as a battering ram to knoc—

"……fine."

Link sighed again, this time in relief. He pushed Tetra's door open easily (like he guessed, she'd been lying about the dresser) and shut it behind him once he got all the way in.

Something… something was strange. Tetra wasn't pacing around her bed, wasn't playing with any of her mother's old possessions, wasn't crouched in a corner growling and ready to pounce, wasn't… doing anything of the things she normally did when she was upset. She was sitting on the edge of her bed facing away from the door, unmoving. Just sitting and staring at her hands folded in her lap. To top off this picture of complete un-Tetra-ness, as Link sat down beside her he noticed how red and puffy her eyes were. She had been CRYING.

Link was seriously worried now. Six months ago, Tetra told him that she hadn't cried in four years. Four entire years, she'd actually been counting. It had been a goal for her after her mother's death to not cry for an entire year, but after the year ended she had just kept going. For something to make her break that record… Asking any questions would just make her close up more, so Link did the first thing he thought of: he hugged her.

Tetra sighed and her shoulders slumped. Link quickly took the opportunity to nestle his forehead in the small crook between her neck and shoulder.

"Am I still breathing?"

"Mm… yes," Link breathed into her neck. He could feel her heartbeat pulsing lightly against the bridge of his nose, and it was very reassuring. Tetra was always so pleasantly warm. No matter where she was or what the weather was like, Tetra always felt like she'd spent the last two hours tanning in the sun. Link tightened his hold around her waist so his forearms slid under the hem of her shirt to press against the warm skin there. Her stomach moved in and out with each breath she took, and Link felt himself slowing his breathing to match hers. She smelled good… like ocean breeze and sweat, which came from working long and hard in the sun. It was a nice smell.

With his lips a hair's breadth away from her collarbone, Link stopped. The Tetra he was holding looked, felt, and smelled like the Tetra he knew, but something still wasn't right. For one thing, she was being totally unresponsive to his affections. This Tetra wasn't happy, and cuddling was not going to solve her problems today. With a resigned sigh, Link let go and sat up straight.

"You want some water or anything?" he asked. If she wasn't going to talk to him, he was going to have to lay siege to her defenses. There was no telling how long it would take for her to crack, so Link figured they should get comfortable before he settled down to wait it out.

Tetra shook her head mutely. Link ignored her and, two minutes later, returned to the room with a small mug of water.

"It looks like Niko's making stew for dinner," he commented idly about his trip to the galley. He sat back down next to Tetra and offered her the cup. She refused it by saying nothing.

Link took a drink and offered it to her again.

"Come on, it's good."

Tetra remained silent. Unwilling to give up, Link put his free arm around Tetra's shoulders and pulled her close.

"It's nice and cool," he coaxed. To demonstrate this fact, he pressed the cold metal mug lightly against her cheek. Tetra drew away from it, looking annoyed.

Link twisted down and around so he could look up directly into Tetra's averted face.

"Just a little bit? Please?"

When Link was sick last winter, that was the line Tetra always used to get him to eat something. The corners of Tetra's mouth twitched in a bad attempt to hide a smile. Link was never allowed to say no to that question, so it only made sense that she shouldn't be allowed to either.

Link chuckled and handed Tetra the mug, which she finally relented and grasped. She took a small sip of water, then put the mug up against her forehead.

"See? I knew you'd like something cold."

"Shut up," Tetra mumbled half-heartedly.

Now it was just a matter of waiting. All Tetra really needed was someone to listen. When the time was right, she would talk.


	3. Chapter 3

Uhm, hi! So... my writing tends to SNOWBALL LIKE CRAZY, and rather than makin' y'all wait forever for me to nitpick and perfect a crazy long chapter3, I decided to split things up. Again.

...seriously, this was supposed to be a one-shot... OH WELL.

Everything that is awesome (aka Zelda) belongs to Nintendo.

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The next twenty minutes were spent in what was, for Link, a comfortable silence. It was not too comfortable for Tetra. She had to know what Link was expecting, but she was still being stubbornly silent. A few times she opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but each time nothing came out. Unable to talk, she began to fidget with her mug of water. It was now spinning so fast in her hands that water threatened to splash out. What on the Great Sea was so bad she couldn't tell him?

The mug stopped spinning.

"Link," Tetra said slowly, "what are we doing?"

"Sitting?"

"No, I mean on this ship."

"Uh… sailing?" Link ventured. What was she trying to get at?

"Mnn… yes. Sailing. But why are we sailing?"

"To find a new home," said Link. That line had become the crew's unofficial mantra, seeing as Tetra said it so often.

"Why?"

"Why what? Why are we looking for a new home? B-because… we…" Link faltered. "You're the one who said we should, you're the one with the grand vision! How can you not know why?"

Tetra stared into her water.

"Tetra… Tetra! Come on, you know why we're here! Don't you?"

Link bit his lip when she did not respond. Something was wrong, something was very wrong.

"You were the one who convinced us all to set out. You were the… Tetra, your whole body lights up every time you talk about it! 'We're going to find a new home where we can build a new kingdom and grow. A place where we can all live and work united, not on separate little islands.' You said all that. You… you could go on for hours about this stuff! Are you telling me you've changed your mind?"

"N… no… I don't think so. It's just… we…"

Tetra did not sound sincere in the slightest, and it made Link panic. Tetra's very passion in life had become finding a new Hyrule. What could cause her to not want to do that anymore!

"It's just what?" he demanded.

"Just… we…"

Water was once again threatening to spill out of the mug. Tetra's hands were shaking badly, and each word she spoke sounded forced.

"Haven't found anything and… I…"

The last puzzle piece clicked into place. 

"Ooohoho, is that it? You're concerned that we haven't found anything yet?" Link laughed out loud in relief. He'd been expecting this sooner or later. It was easy to loose hope sometimes when all you saw was endless ocean day after day. It was especially easy if it was cold, raining, or if you and your boat got into a shouting match about which direction you were headed. (Link chose to ignore the fact that he was probably the only person to ever have to deal with that last one.) Stormy moments were never fun, but much like storms, all you had to do to make things better was to wait for the sun to reappear. Link squeezed Tetra and gave her a loud, wet kiss on the cheek.

"That's a stupid reason to be upset! It'll be okay, you know we're gonna fin—"

He was cut off by the tiniest of whimpers. Tetra's bottom lip was quivering in a rapidly failing effort not to cry.

"W-what! I… oh, Tetra don't!" Link stammered, grabbing her shoulders as she tried to turn away and hide her tears. "Just because we haven't found anything yet doesn't mean we never will! We just need to keep looking. I mean, it's not like we have to find this place tomorrow. We've got forever to look if we need to." 

Tetra shook her head violently.

"No, no we don't! You don't get it… don't understand…"

"What's there to understand? Don't cry Tetra, the future is a long ways away, we don't need t—"

"NO IT'S NOT!" Tetra roared, ripping herself away and standing. She stumbled backwards and almost tripped on her mug, which was now lying in a puddle on the floor. 

"I-it's not!" she repeated, close to sobbing and shaking her head. "The future is here now!"

"What future?"

"O-our future!" she cried. "And we have nothing to show for it, n-nothing to give… to our child."

Link, about to interrupt again, froze. 

"Our WHAT?"

Tetra straightened up, took a deep breath which made her shoulders pull back, and shouted, "I'm with child!"

She stared at Link. He stared back. Tetra deflated a little.

"A… a baby," she clarified.

The cold, prickly wave of shock rippling its way down Link's body finally settled somewhere near the pit of his stomach. A baby. He looked at Tetra and the word didn't make sense. Words were having trouble escaping his mouth; he was trying, really, but his brain didn't seem to want to cooperate.

"What?"

Whatever Tetra had been expecting, that wasn't it.

"Baby," she tried to spit out. "Child. Thing growing _inside of me_."

Link was certain the fierce look on her face was her way of trying to regain control over her emotions. It wasn't very effective; the tears she couldn't hold back were spilling down her cheeks in the most pathetic manner. Her composure was chipping away piece by piece, and it was only a matter of time before she… well, he really had no idea what was going to happen. He was pretty sure, though, that he didn't want to find out.

"Oh."

Despite this potentially impending doom, he still couldn't think of anything to say. What was he _supposed_ to say? The only thing he could think of was "how", and that was an idiotic question. He knew perfectly well _how_ this had happened, even though neither of them had thought that this… really, they only… only a few times…

"You… you're sure about this?"

"Of course I am!" Tetra all but exploded. "Why would I lie about something like this! I don't want this anymore than you!"

For some odd reason, Link felt insulted.

"I never said I didn't wa—"

"I don't care what you think! It doesn't matter! This isn't supposed to happen!"

"Why not?"

Tetra stared at him incredulously.

"We have a mission! We're supposed to find a new Hyrule!"

"And that means we can't have children?"

"No! I mean yes… I mean… I… Grrgh!" Tetra put a hand to her forehead. "This isn't supposed to happen," she moaned again.

"Again: why not? Baby or not, we're still going to keep looking for a new Hyrule. This doesn't change anything."

"Yes it does!" Tetra whined.

"Why? What does it change?"

"Nothing! It just… This isn't…." Unable to finish her sentence with words, she finished it with a growl.

"Tetra. Answer me."

Link knew he was being annoying, but he himself was getting annoyed. He had been misled by Tetra's tears. This was the same Tetra he'd always known: stubborn and evasive. 

"This isn't the end of the world, you know," he commented idly.

"Yes it is!" Tetra shot back.

"Why!"

"_Because I said it is!_" Tetra screeched an entire octave higher than her normal voice.

Link shut his mouth, suddenly deciding he liked being dry and having all of his teeth in the proper place. He raised both of his hands in the air in a sign of surrender.

"Okay, okay. Calm down. I don't know why you're so upset, but… you have every right to be angry at me. It's my fault that this has happened, and I… we should have been more careful."

Tetra glared at Link with her best death glare. After a few agonizingly frightening moments, her shoulders began to sink down and her fists un-balled. With a huff of annoyance, she turned away from Link and crossed her arms over her chest.

"This isn't your fault."

"Don't you even try that," Link growled. "This is exactly half my fault, regardless of what your captain's sense of responsibility tells you." 

"Alright then. It's half yours. I've told you I'm unhappy. What do you think?"

Link frowned.

"It's not an "it". "It" is a he or a she."

He took a deep, steadying breath. Somehow saying that made the situation much more real. Tetra was having a baby. They, the two of them, were going to be parents to a real, live person. He wasn't as upset about it as Tetra was, but the entire concept of having a child was… overwhelming. Frightening almost, seeing as they had never thought about it before.

"I don't know what to think. I guess… I want to apologize. I've…" He struggled to think of a good word. "I have dishonored you."

Tetra made a funny noise.

"You've what?"

Link now found it was he who was looking away.

"It's what my grandmother would say," he offered in a small voice.

Tetra's arms fell back down to her sides.

"Link, I'm a _pirate_," she said, sounding frustrated. "I do dishonorable things all the time!"

"Then why are you trying to act like a princess! Nobody is making you look for a new Hyrule!"

That had come out much harsher than he had intended. Still, it was the truth. All Link had ever wanted to do two years ago was rescue his sister, and then he and Tetra had gotten dragged intoa whirlwind of adventure. Though he did not regret becoming the Hero, he had always felt the title had been forced upon him. He knew Tetra felt the same way, mostly because after the adventure had ended the crew had to forcibly stop her from burning her royal dre—

Link suddenly noticed how quiet the room had gone. He turned and saw Tetra staring at him with her mouth wide open.

"I… I didn't mean to say it like that," he apologized quickly.

"N-nobody is… is m-making me do this," Tetra stumbled. "I doubt half of the p-people back home even w-want me to do this." 

She hiccupped, and a few new tears began to fall. 

"I'm d-doing this… b-because it's the right thing to do. I thought you understood that."

Link didn't realize she had been moving backwards until she gently hit the wall and began to sink down it. When she was mostly on the floor, she choked out, "I… I thought…"

Link's mind instantly finished her sentence: 

_I thought you believed in me._


	4. Chapter 4

I am amaaazed how many people have put this story on their Alert list! I would like to thank each and every one of you, because you have given me the confidence to keep posting. (And gave me the kick in the pants I needed to sit down and finish this)

Haha, please enjoy, and beware the fluff.

Everything Nintendo

* * *

In a flash Link was off the bed and racing towards her

In a flash Link was off the bed and racing towards her.

"I do, I do! I swear I do! Tetra…"

Now kneeling in front of her, he attempted to pull her into a hug.

"Don't!" she sobbed, trying both to swat away his hands and curl into a ball.

"C'mon Tetra, listen." He grabbed Tetra by the arms and pulled. "Gah!"

She put up much more of a resistance than he had expected, and Link almost lost his balance by pulling too lightly. He tried again, harder this time, but Tetra would not budge and not stop bawling. Link was stumped. Pulling any harder would give her bruises. Was he seriously going to have to pry her off the floor like a barnacle? If he could get his arms underneath and around her, that would make things much easier.

Tetra was not about to let this happen. She tried to squirm away and hunch closer to the floor, but Link was stronger than she was. When he got one hand successfully under her stomach, she began to use her own hands to fight back, repeatedly sobbing the word "no".

Link began to panic. If she didn't quiet down soon, the rest of the crew would hear her and come running. When they saw this scene, Link was a dead man. DEAD. Nobody had ever made "Miss Tetra" cry before. He was going to be chopped up into such tiny pieces that even the fish wouldn't wa—

"W-what are we going to doooo?" Tetra bawled.

Link's mind re-emerged from thoughts of the ocean floor. "What do you mean?" he asked with a shocked frown. "We're going to keep sailing. We can't just turn around!"

Even when crying, Tetra was stubborn as a mule. Figuring the only way to get through to her was to be equally stubborn, Link tried to pull her up with renewed vigor.

"You listen to me!" he shouted. "We are –ouch- going to have this –egh- baby, and we're going to be happy!"

His right arm finally managed to make it across Tetra's chest. His other hand was still only on her stomach, but it was enough. Puffing with exertion now, Link pulled Tetra's torso away from her knees inch by inch.

"Do you hear me?" he repeated. "HAPPY! Because I love you and we can—oof!"

One of Tetra's elbows connected painfully with his stomach. Out of breath and fed up with fighting, Link let Tetra fall back to the floor. His arms were trapped under her, so as she fell he was pulled on top of her in a weird turtle-like hug. It wasn't very comfortable, but it would have to do until he caught his breath.

Link shut his eyes and gently rested his head on the back of Tetra's shoulder. He could feel his face turning bright red. That had to have been the worst confession of love _ever_. If he was lucky, maybe she hadn't heard it over her crying.

Why _was_ Tetra so upset about this? They lived a fairly simple life nowadays; sail, look for land, and sail some more. Adding a baby to that mix wouldn't really change things much. Link couldn't decide if the feeling welling up in his stomach was anger or disappointment. It was stupid of Tetra to hide something this important. They would all find out eventually! Couldn't she have at least had the decency to tell him, the father? What good did hiding it from him do? Maybe she expected him to take the news badly, but even then, what could he really do? It wasn't like he could walk out on her. He could potentially _sail_ away in their one little jolly boat, but where would he go? There was nothing but water for miles, and he would run out of supplies and die before he could get anywhere. Did she think he would chose death over having this child with her?

With a sigh, Link decided that he should stop guessing why Tetra was upset and just wait until she was calm enough to tell him. Though he couldn't do much to comfort her with his arms pinned, he figured holding her would be enough.

"Shh…" he whispered over and over, nuzzling his forehead into her back.

It took about five minutes for Tetra to quiet down. She still refused to get off the floor, however, and Link had to ask her to get up before his arms went completely numb. Surprisingly, she agreed and sat up, but sat with her back facing him.

Link tried to reach an arm around her waist, but Tetra pushed it away with a "Don't!"

"Why not?"

"B-because," Tetra stated, her voice getting teary again.

"Come on, no more of this," Link chided. "You're going to flood our boat."

Tetra did not find this amusing or consoling, and Link sighed again. "You're not going to do this for every child, are you?"

"W-what?" Tetra hiccupped tearfully.

Link felt color rising to his cheeks. That last line had slipped out of nowhere, but… with a small jolt of happiness, he realized he didn't want to take it back. "We… we're going to have more than one, right?"

Tetra turned to stare at him, her mouth hanging wide open.

They had never talked about having children before. Their relationship had only just started, so neither of them had brought it up. Truth be told, Link had never given much thought to the subject. Even if it was a bit late, what better time was there to discuss this than now?

"You can't just have one kid," he smiled. "Everything is more fun when you have brothers and sisters. Don't you think? You were an only child… didn't you get lonely all by yourself on this big boat?"

Tetra kept staring, obviously not sure how to respond, so Link kept going.

"I like big families; everyone looks out for everyone else. After my parents died, it was just me, my grandma, and my sister. We got along fine, but we were such a tiny family. It was difficult at times! I guess… I guess I've always wanted a big family, because I never got to have one as a kid."

Link looked down at Tetra and tried not to laugh at her awe-stricken face. What seemed like eons ago, he had decided how he felt about Tetra… and a few minutes ago he royally screwed up trying to tell her. Figuring there was no way he could make it any worse, Link took a deep breath and steeled his nerves.

"Tetra… I want to have lots of children with you."

Link very much expected Tetra to smile at this. She did not. Instead, her head thunked back down on his chest. "Eer, that is, if _you_ want to have more," he added.

Tetra gave a big sniffle and choked, "I want t-to have... t-tons."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I don't want this baby. Not now. We can't do this now."

"Why not?"

Tetra was beginning to cry again and her words were getting difficult to understand. "We haven't _found_ anything yet! I wanted to have our f-first child on _land_. With p-people around and a kingdom being built… a-and…"

"And we're not even close to that, are we?"

Tetra shook her head, scrubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand. "No. Not at all."

Link reached forward and brushed Tetra's cheek softly. When she looked up, he gave her a small smile. "So we're behind schedule. We've dealt with worse than this, haven't we?"

"I-I guess…"

"And you know, I've always thought…" Link stopped mid-sentence, deciding that if he was going to get preachy, he might as well get comfortable. He skooched around Tetra and put his back to the wall, and then pulled her around until she was sitting in front of him. Tetra got the idea and leaned back against him, and the large twirled-up bun in her hair flopped straight into his face. Spluttering, Link pushed her away.

"Your hair is falling out all over the place. Can I…?"

"Yeah," she mumbled back.

Link knew a secret that nobody else on board knew; Tetra's eccentric hairstyle was held up mainly by three pins. With these three gone, the whole bun would just fall out. He'd actually gotten quite good at putting her hair up, seeing as she used to get annoyed that he'd take it down all the time when they… Well, he knew how to undo her hair, and chose to do so now. With three swift plucks, her lopsided bun fell apart and golden hair cascaded down her back. Link combed through her tresses with his fingers, smoothing everything down and removing two more pins. Task complete, Link deposited the five pins on the floor and pulled Tetra back onto his chest.

Tetra sighed and shut her eyes. Link cuddled her a little closer; she was probably tired after all that crying. They would have to take a nap after this.

"Tetra… do you remember the last thing the King of Red Lions said to us?" he mumbled in her ear.

"Yeah," she said softly. "_I have scattered the seeds of the future._"

Link nodded and commented, "He was lying."

Tetra's eyes snapped open. "What?!"

The King (and his death) was still a sensitive subject, so Link treaded cautiously. "Shh, just listen. He called us seeds, but that's not quite accurate. I would call myself… I don't know, more of a gardener.

Tetra furrowed her brow, clearly not following his logic.

"Think about it!" he said. "We're going to find a new land, claim it as our own, and build, right?"

"Right."

"And how long does it take to build a kingdom?"

"Er…" Tetra bit down on her lower lip in thought and Link could almost see the gears in her head working overtime. "A long time."

"And when that kingdom is complete, big, grand, and all sorts of fancy and prosperous, how old will you and I be?"

"Old," Tetra answered.

"If we're lucky, yeah," Link laughed. "So at that point, who will be running the country?"

"Our heirs?"

Though she tried to pretend like she wasn't thinking the same thing he was, Link saw her cast a quick glance at her stomach. Link laughed again. "Yep! That guy there! Now think: to us, this kingdom will be what?"

"Our new home."

Link was pleased that Tetra guessed the answer he was looking for. "Exactly. You're so smart. To our children, though, what will it be?"

Tetra gave him a blank, but slightly annoyed look. "I don't know."

"Just home. Not new, just… home," Link answered. "We're sailing on this sea to find a place to start a new country… a country for the next generation to call home. We're not the seeds, we're _bringing_ the seeds. Our children, they're the ones who are going to take root and make sure the kingdom grows and prospers; you and I are just going to find somewhere to plant them."

"Oh!" Tetra said, comprehension dawning on her face.

"So the King really should have said he spread the gardeners of the future," Link finished.

Tetra exhaled like she was thinking the thought over, then rolled her eyes. She muttered under her breath, "I've never grown a single thing in my life."

"Then isn't it a good thing we're having this baby now?" Link asked, tilting his head to look Tetra in the face. "It's only fair that he should have some say in where this grand old tree is going to grow, right?"

"I've never heard of a tree picking where he wanted to grow," Tetra commented, "but… yeah. I guess… I guess it might be good. Just a tiny bit."

"A tiny bit's all we need," said Link, leaning back onto the wall and shutting his eyes.

There was a peaceful moment of silence.

"Um…" Tetra mumbled. "Hey… Link?"

"Yeah?"

"You… you want… to have this baby? You're happy?"

Link cracked open one eye, but the bit of Tetra's face he could see was unreadable. "Yeah. I'm happy."

That must have been the answer Tetra wanted, because she suddenly turned ninety degrees and leaned sideways against him, snuggling her head down on his shoulders. "…Thank you."

Link smiled and closed his eyes again. "Anytime, Tetra."


	5. Chapter 5

It's over! )

Did you expect this to be longer? I'm sorry if you did, because it was always meant to be a one-shot. Plus, I have no idea what kind of plot I would have after this, and... well...

If you liked this story, you should read the longer, Mega Man themed version of it! It is called "Just Like You, Only Different", and will be posted in the Mega Man or Rockman.EXE section soon!

I like this much better as a short story, anyway.

Nintendo owns the Zelda goodness.

* * *

"Can we tell the crew?"

"No."

Tetra felt Link shift against her. After Link had convinced her to get up off the floor, he had also convinced her to lie down for a rest in her bed. She didn't really understand how lying on the bed was any better than on the floor, but she did not put up a fight, not even when Link got in bed with her to lay side-by-side.

"So we're just going to wait until they notice you getting fat?"

Tetra frowned, and gave Link a light smack because he couldn't see her displeasure.

"That's a charming way to put it, but also no. I just… I don't want to do this again today. Don't make me."

"What if I tell them for you?" he offered.

"IF YOU DO, I'LL…" Tetra raised her hand again, but forced herself to stop. She mentally reminded herself that Link was concerned and only trying to help. "I… just… no. I'll do it. Please."

"Well… okay."

He sounded disappointed, and Tetra felt a spark of annoyance. Really, it was cute that he was pleased about becoming a father, but that didn't mean he had to gloat to everyone about it. With only eight people on board, the news was going to get old fairly quick.

The crew… what would they think? As much as she didn't want to believe it, she knew they'd all be happy. Oh sure, Niko would probably go slack-jawed at the news, and when she wasn't around they'd poke fun at Link and bully him a little, but every time Tetra tried to imagine how they'd react, she got a mental image of all six of them fighting to be the first to hug her. They would be happy. And they would understand. Like Link, their desire to find a new home would be doubled so that this new little life would have a suitable future.

Her nose crinkled in a tiny smile. She lifted a hand and put it gently on top of her "new little life". Maybe… maybe she could do this.

One of Link's hands suddenly closed on top of her own and added a reassuring pressure to her still-flat stomach.

Maybe _they _could do this. Cheered by this thought, Tetra snuggled a little closer. "I hope it's a girl."

Tetra felt Link chuckle. "Why is that?" he asked pleasantly.

"Because… The crew, they call me "Miss". If I had a girl, she'd be the "Little Miss". It would be so adorable!"

There was a pause.

"What?" Tetra faltered a little. "You don't think it's cute?"

"I… don't…" Link shifted and propped himself up on an elbow to give Tetra a critical look. "Cute? When have you ever thought something was _cute_?"

"I've always thought small children are cute," she stated.

"What is this? It's like you're… I don't know, a _girl_ or something!" Link laughed.

Tetra gave Link another playful slap. "Shut up! I'm with child, I'm supposed to be feminine."

"You're also a princess, but do you act like one?"

"No, and sometimes I don't act like a pirate, either. I pick and choose what titles suit me best."

"And now we're adding "mother" to this mix?" Link groaned, but Tetra could see a twinkle of laughter in his eyes. "You're quite an interesting person!"

"Aren't you just thrilled to add me to your family?" she asked with a large sarcastic grin.

"Hey! My family is small, I'm sure my grandmother would take any addition she cou… she…"

"Link?"

His face had gone suddenly white and he looked like he had swallowed a fish whole, scales and all.

"Link? What's wrong?"

"MARRY ME."

"…what?!" said Tetra, taken aback.

"I'm sorry; _please_ marry me," he said.

Now Tetra found she was the one staring with her mouth open.

"I know… I know you don't like titles because they make people have certain expectations about who you are, but I know you love to ruin people's perception of you and I know there's no priest and we have no family and it wouldn't be really official but if it could be I really think I would ask you we could be happy and—"

Link stopped to inhale, but before he could start again Tetra clamped a hand over his mouth. Link only got this nervous when he was hiding something.

"What's the real reason behind this?" she asked, scowling.

"I… it's just…"

"Yeees?"

Link cringed and stared down at the bed sheets. "When my grandmother finds out about this, she is_ going to kill me._"

For the first time in what seemed like eternity, Tetra laughed.


End file.
